Author
Topic: NewBee Classic ?: Keeping Smokers Lit (Read 4851 times)

When the bees are at the farm, I build the smoker with pine needles as per below and if I plan to keep it lit for a long time I put a piece of dried cow patty on top of the pine needles. Most of the time it is still in there and has to be snuffed out. If it is good and dry, it doesn't smell bad and it lasts a long time. I'm sure your local farmers would not mind if you asked if you could stock up some. :-DJim

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"If you don't read the newspaper you are uninformed. If you do read the newspaper you are misinformed."--Mark Twain

I've got plenty of that lying around but hadn't tried it in my smoker yet. I've read stories of indians using buffalo chips and pioneers using cow patties but have never tried it. How's the aroma and how do the bees take to it?

Definitely not the plastic! And if you've got sisal, you want to be SURE it's not the treated stuff. Most baling twine has been chemically treated. Sometimes treated twine is colored green or orange, but not always. Probably not a good idea to smoke your bees with sisal that was treated with pesticides and rodenticides.

Another large smoker for you. Check out the rest of this album. It gives a very neat insight to beekeeping with AHB. Also, I admire the industriousness of these beekeepers, making what they need in a country where you can't just go down the road and purchase it.

Like Sparky said..Put a can inside the smoker. Find a can that will fit inside with some slop space around it. Use an old type can opener (the kind that makes a triangle hole) and put a few holes in the botom and sides. Light as stated stuffing fuel into the can...Air can get around fuel and it will stay lit.

I've got plenty of that lying around but hadn't tried it in my smoker yet. I've read stories of indians using buffalo chips and pioneers using cow patties but have never tried it. How's the aroma and how do the bees take to it?

It doesn't smell bad to me. Just don't use the fresh stuff. :-D That's a different story.Jim

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"If you don't read the newspaper you are uninformed. If you do read the newspaper you are misinformed."--Mark Twain

Eric lit the smoker yesterday with the torch. It had a charcoal briquette, some dry sumac berries, some toilet paper, some pellets, and some cardboard in it from previous attempts. He ventilated it like crazy and we had fabulous smoke for hours.

>I inherited two old but usable smokers, but they fail to keep going. Each lasts about the time for one hive's observation. Then I have to relight every time I move to the next hive which of course is a pain.

Good fuel is also essential. Burlap is my favorite but the ability to stay lit is an important aspect of fuel. Cool burning is another. Starting a fire with small dry sticks and letting it burn down to coals makes a nice basis that stays lit.

Eric lit the smoker yesterday with the torch. It had a charcoal briquette, some dry sumac berries, some toilet paper, some pellets, and some cardboard in it from previous attempts. He ventilated it like crazy and we had fabulous smoke for hours.

Thanks for all the help!

Glad it worked out. Sounds like y'all had a little bit of every kind of fuel imaginable in that smoker.

"In the first place, we should insist that if the immigrant who comes here in good faith becomes an American and assimilates himself to us, he shall be treated on an exact equality with everyone else, for it is an outrage to discriminate against any such man because of creed, or birthplace, or origin. But this is predicated upon the person's becoming in every facet an American, and nothing but an American...There can be no divided allegiance here. Any man who says he is an American, but something else also, isn't an American at all. We have room for but one flag, the American flag...We have room for but one language here, and that is the English language...And we have room for but one sole loyalty and that is a loyalty to the American people."

>Every spring I encourage new beekeepers to practice with their smokers before their bees arrive. It's a skill. Different fuels work differently, and some work better for me than others. The basics are to start the fire at the bottom, keep adding fuel and pumping the bellows until it's really burning, then pack it down. But it takes some practice to actually make it work!

This is probably the best advice I've seen. There is nothing like practice. ;)

I have a small smoker, and have never had problems keeping it lit for hours on end. The secret is to use a heat source. When you build a wood fire, there will be charcoals in the ashes when it's cool. Collect those and use a handful when you light the smoker. Put them in a metal flat container, light one with a flame, blow on them until they're red hot, and dump them in the bottom of the smoker.

Pack your smoking material on top. I usually break a bunch of small twigs to help replenish the coals when they burn down, and stuff the top full of dry leaves or grass. Pine needles, wood shavings, pulverized manure, anything that will insulate. Don't try sawdust, it just blows out when you pump the bellows shooting little coals around.

The formula, as any good scout can tell you, is the "fire triangle." Heat, Fuel, Oxygen. The coals supply the heat, the dried fuel material insulates against the coals cooling, and the bellows supply the oxygen. Once the twigs are lit I have no trouble keeping anything actually smoking. In fact, I have to keep moving the smoker to keep the smoke out of my lungs.

Should the inspections last longer than the smoker, I simply open and drop more twigs in, catch them on fire and reload with whatever's handy.

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"Thinking is like sin, them that doesn't is scairt of it, and them that does gets to liking it so much they can't quit!" -Josh Billings.

Lots of post here so here,s mine; I think the smoker i have is considered small,but seems to work well.The first time i tried it i used some grass i had mowed 3-4 days before it was fairly dry on top but still showed a little green on bottom.So first lite tite wadded up ball of paper towel and lower to bottom,mine has metal piece with holes and 4 spring loaded straps to hold up until you push it down,then cram dry grass on top and pump until lots of smoke and [sparks from bottom hole ] now cram dry mixed with some not so dry grass on top and shove it in tight.pump some more until lots of smoke.With a little pump about every 15-20 min mine was still going after sitting unattended for 1 hr.Had to cork it to put it out.Not bad for first time i guess. Like behondthesidewalks says get rough with it. :-D

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Carl-I have done so much with so little for so long i can now do something with nothing!

I use pine needles mainly because there are a lot of pine trees around my property. One thing that works is taking the ends of pine branches that are loaded with pine needles and hanging them out to dry, I use the fence around the bee yard to hang them on till they turn brown and then bag them up. One of the guy's in the local bee club brought in a gizmo which he uses to bundle smoker fuel with. It was a piece of PVC tubing cut lenght wise and slotted for twine. It looked like you laid the twine down in the piece of tubing and then piled pine needles or whatever in the tubing. Once it was packed tight it got tied up with the twine into a nice smoker sized cartridge which could be lit from one end and dropped into the smoker. The bottom grate needs to be kept clear of ashes and really needs to be in the smoker the right way. If it is upside down the fuel can't get any air. Guess how I figured that one out :-D Pratice, Pratice, Pratice